The micromachining technology that emerged in the late 1980s can provide micron-sized sensors and actuators. These micro transducers are able to be integrated with signal conditioning and processing circuitry to form micro-electromechanical-systems (MEMS) that can perform real-time distributed control. This capability opens up a new territory for flow control research. On the other hand, surface effects dominate the fluid flowing through these miniature mechanical devices because of the large surface-to-volume ratio in micron-scale configurations. We need to reexamine the surface forces in the momentum equation. Owing to their smallness, gas flows experience large Knudsen numbers, and therefore boundary conditions need to be modified. Besides being an enabling technology, MEMS also provide many challenges for fundamental flow-science research.

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Micro-electro-mechanical-systems (mems) and fluid flows

Manufacturing processes that can create extremely small machines have been developed in recent years. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) refer to devices that have characteristic length of less than 1 mm but more than 1 micron, that combine electrical and mechanical components and that are fabricated using integrated circuit batch-processing techniques. Electrostatic, magnetic, pneumatic and thermal actuators, motors, valves, gears, and tweezers of less than 100-μm size have been fabricated. These have been used as sensors for pressure, temperature, mass flow, velocity and sound, as actuators for linear and angular motion and as simple components for complex systems such as micro-heat-engines and micro-heat-pumps The technology is progressing at a rate that fa r exceeds that of our understanding of the unconventional physics involved in the operation as well as the manufacturing of those minute devices. The primary objective of this article is to critically review the status of our understanding of fluid flow phenomena particular to microdevices. In terms of applications, the paper emphasizes the use of MEMS as sensors and actuators for flow diagnosis and control.

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The Fluid Mechanics of Microdevices—The Freeman Scholar Lecture

Part I: Background and Fundamentals Introduction, Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, University of Notre Dame Scaling of Micromechanical Devices, William Trimmer, Standard MEMS, Inc., and Robert H. Stroud, Aerospace Corporation Mechanical Properties of MEMS Materials, William N. Sharpe, Jr., Johns Hopkins University Flow Physics, Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, University of Notre Dame Integrated Simulation for MEMS: Coupling Flow-Structure-Thermal-Electrical Domains, Robert M. Kirby and George Em Karniadakis, Brown University, and Oleg Mikulchenko and Kartikeya Mayaram, Oregon State University Liquid Flows in Microchannels, Kendra V. Sharp and Ronald J. Adrian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Juan G. Santiago and Joshua I. Molho, Stanford University Burnett Simulations of Flows in Microdevices, Ramesh K. Agarwal and Keon-Young Yun, Wichita State University Molecular-Based Microfluidic Simulation Models, Ali Beskok, Texas A&M University Lubrication in MEMS, Kenneth S. Breuer, Brown University Physics of Thin Liquid Films, Alexander Oron, Technion, Israel Bubble/Drop Transport in Microchannels, Hsueh-Chia Chang, University of Notre Dame Fundamentals of Control Theory, Bill Goodwine, University of Notre Dame Model-Based Flow Control for Distributed Architectures, Thomas R. Bewley, University of California, San Diego Soft Computing in Control, Mihir Sen and Bill Goodwine, University of Notre Dame Part II: Design and Fabrication Materials for Microelectromechanical Systems Christian A. Zorman and Mehran Mehregany, Case Western Reserve University MEMS Fabrication, Marc J. Madou, Nanogen, Inc. LIGA and Other Replication Techniques, Marc J. Madou, Nanogen, Inc. X-Ray-Based Fabrication, Todd Christenson, Sandia National Laboratories Electrochemical Fabrication (EFAB), Adam L. Cohen, MEMGen Corporation Fabrication and Characterization of Single-Crystal Silicon Carbide MEMS, Robert S. Okojie, NASA Glenn Research Center Deep Reactive Ion Etching for Bulk Micromachining of Silicon Carbide, Glenn M. Beheim, NASA Glenn Research Center Microfabricated Chemical Sensors for Aerospace Applications, Gary W. Hunter, NASA Glenn Research Center, Chung-Chiun Liu, Case Western Reserve University, and Darby B. Makel, Makel Engineering, Inc. Packaging of Harsh-Environment MEMS Devices, Liang-Yu Chen and Jih-Fen Lei, NASA Glenn Research Center Part III: Applications of MEMS Inertial Sensors, Paul L. Bergstrom, Michigan Technological University, and Gary G. Li, OMM, Inc. Micromachined Pressure Sensors, Jae-Sung Park, Chester Wilson, and Yogesh B. Gianchandani, University of Wisconsin-Madison Sensors and Actuators for Turbulent Flows. Lennart Loefdahl, Chalmers University of Technology, and Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, University of Notre Dame Surface-Micromachined Mechanisms, Andrew D. Oliver and David W. Plummer, Sandia National Laboratories Microrobotics Thorbjoern Ebefors and Goeran Stemme, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden Microscale Vacuum Pumps, E. Phillip Muntz, University of Southern California, and Stephen E. Vargo, SiWave, Inc. Microdroplet Generators. Fan-Gang Tseng, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan Micro Heat Pipes and Micro Heat Spreaders, G. P. "Bud" Peterson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Microchannel Heat Sinks, Yitshak Zohar, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Flow Control, Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, University of Notre Dame) Part IV: The Future Reactive Control for Skin-Friction Reduction, Haecheon Choi, Seoul National University Towards MEMS Autonomous Control of Free-Shear Flows, Ahmed Naguib, Michigan State University Fabrication Technologies for Nanoelectromechanical Systems, Gary H. Bernstein, Holly V. Goodson, and Gregory L. Snider, University of Notre Dame Index

The MEMS Handbook

As the field of robotics is expanding from the fixed environment of a production line to complex human environments, robots are required to perform increasingly human-like manipulation tasks, moving the state-of-the-art in robotics from grasping to advanced in-hand manipulation tasks such as regrasping, rotation and translation. To achieve advanced in-hand manipulation tasks, robotic hands are required to be equipped with distributed tactile sensing that can continuously provide information about the magnitude and direction of forces at all contact points between them and the objects they are interacting with. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in force and tactile sensing technologies that can be suitable within the specific context of dexterous in-hand manipulation. In previous reviews of tactile sensing for robotic manipulation, the specific functional and technical requirements of dexterous in-hand manipulation, as compared to grasping, are in general not taken into account. This paper provides a review of models describing human hand activity and movements, and a set of functional and technical specifications for in-hand manipulation is defined. The paper proceeds to review the current state-of-the-art tactile sensor solutions that fulfil or can fulfil these criteria. An analytical comparison of the reviewed solutions is presented, and the advantages and disadvantages of different sensing technologies are compared.

Tactile sensing for dexterous in-hand manipulation in robotics-A review

Unsteady aerodynamics and flow control for flapping wing flyers

A new microfabrication technology that enables the integration of MEMS devices on a flexible polyimide skin has been developed. Mechanically, the flexible skin consists of many individual Si islands (necessary for silicon MEMS/electronics devices) that are connected together by a thin/thick polyimide film (typically 1-100 /spl mu/m thick). To create the islands, Si diaphragms are first formed with a desirable thickness (10-500 /spl mu/m) by Si wet etching and then patterned from the back side by reactive ion etching (RIE). As a first application, flexible shear-stress sensor skins for aerodynamics study have been fabricated. The finished skin is 3 cm long and 1 cm wide, and it consists of about 100 sensors. The skin polyimide is 17 /spl mu/m thick and the silicon islands are 75 /spl mu/m thick. These skins have been successfully taped on a semi-cylindrical (1.3 cm diameter) delta wing leading edge to perform real-time 2-D shear stress profiling.

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A flexible MEMS technology and its first application to shear stress sensor skin

Shear-stress information is of great interest for many fluidic dynamic monitoring/diagnostics application. To obtain such information on non-planar surfaces has long been a significant challenge. This paper describes the development of flexible shear-stress sensor skin and its application on the detection of leading edge flow separation for delta planform unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The sensor skin contains a 1-D array of 36 shear-stress sensors, which can cover the 180° surface of the 1.27 cm diameter semicylindrical UAV leading edge with 5° resolution. The implementation process of the sensor skin is significantly simplified by a packaging scheme based on solder bonding and flexible printed circuit board (PCB). The flexible shear-stress sensor skin in both wind tunnel and real flight tests detected the flow separation along the leading edge successfully.

Flexible shear-stress sensor skin and its application to unmanned aerial vehicles

A new microfabrication technique has evolved and has been applied to the development of a flexible shear-stress sensor array. The flexible sensor array is composed of many silicon islands that are interconnected by two layers of polyimide film. The silicon islands are formed by RIE etching and contain individual thermal shear-stress sensors. Each sensor on the flexible sensor array has been proven to behave the same as those on a rigid substrate. There are more than 100 sensors distributed inside a 1 cm×3 cm area. The flexible sensor array has a thickness of 80 μm and can be easily attached on a highly curved surface to detect shear-stress distribution. Applications of the flexible sensor array to flow separation-point detection have been demonstrated in this task, including flow over a circular cylinder and instantaneous separation line detection on the rounded leading edges of a delta wing.

A flexible micromachine-based shear-stress sensor array and its application to separation-point detection

A Flexible Micromachine-Based Shear-Stress Sensor Array and Its Application to Separation-Point Detection

A new MEMS shear stress sensor imager has been developed and its capability of imaging surface shear stress distribution has been demonstrated. The imager consists of multi-rows of vacuum-insulated shear stress sensors with a 300 /spl mu/m pitch. This small spacing allows it to detect surface flow patterns that could not be directly measured before. The high frequency response (30 kHz) of the sensor under constant temperature bias mode also allows it to be used in high Reynolds number turbulent flow studies. The measurement results in a fully developed turbulent flow agree well with the numerical and experimental results previously published.

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Fukang Jiang

Papers

A flexible MEMS technology and its first application to shear stress sensor skin

Flexible shear-stress sensor skin and its application to unmanned aerial vehicles

A flexible micromachine-based shear-stress sensor array and its application to separation-point detection

A Flexible Micromachine-Based Shear-Stress Sensor Array and Its Application to Separation-Point Detection

A surface-micromachined shear stress imager